Opinion Contributor

Preserve transparency in government

What is most disturbing is that the proposed rule appeared to be an attempt to legitimize what has been secret government practice for years. Just before the Justice Department proposed its new rules in March, litigation in a California court revealed that the federal government had responded to FOIA requests by denying the existence of records that it actually possessed and then later denied their existence to the court as well.

Fortunately, the Justice Department has responded to the public and congressional outrage this proposal generated and has withdrawn the proposed rule. Unfortunately, it defended its practice of providing false denials to FOIA requesters and has not agreed to accept a reasonable alternative offered by watchdog groups like the American Civil Liberties Union and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, which I recently endorsed in a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder. Agencies could protect sensitive information by responding simply that the type of information requested would be excludable under FOIA, and therefore the request could not be processed. This response is both truthful and informative, and it would preserve the integrity of the FOIA process — and that of the government officials who are charged with administering the law.

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The Justice Department’s policy of providing false denials to FOIA requesters undermines the public’s trust, giving newfound reason to doubt the government’s denial of any document. Maintaining a practice that was rejected by the public in response to the proposed rule would erode our constitutional system of checks and balances. FOIA denials frequently go to court, where judges are asked to determine the legitimacy of a denial by the executive branch. If the government lies about the existence of documents, then there is no record for a judge to review and no one to hold the government accountable.

The Department of Justice should scrap its deceptive policy and implement the effective alternative that we offer, so that we may strive to live up to the ideals and aspirations of a government that is ever more open and transparent.

In the wake of the $700 billion TARP bailout, Warren Buffett apparently shaped a plan to clean up toxic assets that Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner later adopted–resulting in massive profits for Buffett.

That’s the latest bombshell revelation from investigative journalist and Breitbart editor Peter Schweizer’s sensational new book, Throw Them All Out.

According to Schweizer, after the bailout bill’s passage, Warren Buffett sat down and wrote then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson a four-page private letter laying out a plan to clean up the toxic assets plaguing numerous financial institutions. Buffett proposed something he called a “public-private partnership fund.” For every $10 billion the private sector invested, Buffett said the government should put up $40 billion.

After Paulson’s exit, incoming Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner tweaked the plan and rolled it out in March 2009. But according to quarterly reports from Buffett’s holdings company, Berkshire Hathaway, between the time the billionaire crafted his plan and Geithner adopted it, Buffett quietly purchased 12.4 million shares of Wells Fargo stock and 1.5 million shares of U.S. Bancorp. Once the government unveiled its “Public-Private Investment Program,” bank stocks jumped, resulting in large profits for Buffett....

Our Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) process has no integrity neither does our federal government. You, Mark Udall, are right there in the middle of this circus act you call Capitol Hill. You are equally to blame as are all other elected politicians for your current 9% approval rating which is, de facto, a zero percent approval rating.

A few years back, Janet Napolitano, Eric Holder and Barack Obama labeled conservatives as having a strong propensity to become domestic terrorists. Rubbing salt in this insulting wound, our military girls and boys were also labeled as highly likely to become domestic terrorists. This idiocy is not what caught my eye the most.

Napolitano, Holder and Obama also labeled my peoples, American Indians, as potential domestic terrorists. This, of course, sent me into a rage, probably the same intensity of rage our soldiers felt having been labeled potential domestic terrorists by our own government.

I submitted an FOIA request specifically asking for information used for this premise Indians are terrorists. Homeland Security, Federal Bureau of Investigation and our Department of Defense took two years to fill my request for information. Reams of papers came to our street side mailbox for two years before all information was sent. Two years.

Sifting through this four inch stack of papers I discovered material sent amounted to nothing more than a pile of mule manure.

This information cited over two-hundred web sites used for information gathering by our government. Many of those web sites are fringe element extremists, racist groups, such as the Ku Klux Klan, the Aryan Nation and Neo-Nazi groups. A majority of those web sites used to legitimize a claim conservatives are domestic terrorists are extreme left liberals site like the Huffington Post and The Daily KOS. This is obvious idiocy on the part of Homeland Security, the FBI and our federal government.

An inch thick stack of documents sent are discussions of black street gangs and Mexican street gangs such as the Bloods, Crips and MS-13 none of whom have anything to do with conservatives nor domestic terrorists. Street gangs were, in part, used to support a politically motivated claim conservatives are domestic terrorists.

After two years, this four inch stack of worthless nonsense never revealed a single source related to my peoples, American Indians. Not even a hint of American Indians in this pile of mule manure sent to me over two years. My peoples have nothing to do with domestic terrorism nor are we domestic terrorists.

Janet Napolitano, Eric Holder and Barack Obama lied through their teeth about us American Indians. This behavior stinks of racism.

Have yourself a look at this mule manure send to me over two years:

www.purlgurl.net/~puma/foia.html

You write, "preserve the integrity of the FOIA process". There is no integrity in this process, there is no integrity in information provided and there is no integrity in our government. You, Mark Udall, are part of this problem. Your essay is mule manure just as this information sent to me over two years is, mule manure.

How dare you write about integrity while you and almost all other politicians from Capitol Hill to the Oval Office suffer zero integrity.

We have seen the " Transparency" in the Obama administration...and it stinks to high heaven. Congress receives redacted papers with none of the information requested from the fast and furious case. This is a national disgrace and you Mr. Udall should be absolutely ashamed of yourself. This is supposed to be an open government ruled by ,WE THE PEOPLE. When government hides in secrecy ..we are doomed.

We wouldn't need so much transparency in government if we didn't have so much government now would we?

As it is certain, on the one hand, that we are all making some similar request to the Government; and as, on the other, it is proved that Government cannot satisfy one party without adding to the labor of the others, until I can obtain another definition of the word Government I feel authorized to give it my own. Who knows but it may obtain the prize? Here it is:

"Government is the great fiction through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else." ~ Frederic Bastiat

Don't be scared, be prepared ALWAYS vote for freedom and liberty!

And remember freedom means freedom FROM government and the essence of that freedom is the proper LIMITATION of government, not the EXCESS of it.

Let freedom and liberty OCCUPY both houses of Congress and the White House!